A World on Fire
by GlassGazer
Summary: After an attack on Hammertech is pinned on Stark Industries, Tony has to prove his innocence to not only his team, but also the world. Mysteries start to unravel and a real danger-one that might shake the earth to its core-is revealed.


Hi! As the username says, I'm GlassGazer and this is my first fanfiction! Pleeasee don't set me on fire Really, I've been kicking myself for never posting anything. In fact, I'm not really much of a writer. I much prefer reading over writing, as writing is far more challenging (at least for me). But I have a whole lot of ideas and scenarios that I would love to see happen, so I decided to at least attempt something. Ironically, I've never though of writing this, and it's only the product of sitting at my computer with an open Word document and the though "Eh, why not". That being said, I have no idea where this is going or if I'll even be continuing it. If you enjoy, please let me know and I'll see if I can come up with something (that's not very reassuring now that I write it).

Disclaimer: I own nothing that you can recognize as a brand in this story, nor do I own the Avengers, Iron Man, or any other Marvel affiliated product.

* * *

He honestly didn't see this coming.

The day had started off normally. After an allnighter spent on upgrading Mark IV's booster, it was time for a break. He drank his six cups of coffee in the rec room-he's been cutting back lately, Pep's orders- and headed to the kitchen for some Poptarts (don't even try to say it's not food, it's _edible_). With the _food _in the toaster and the seventh cup of coffee on the way down, it seemed like a promising day. The sound of footsteps prompted him to turn around, some sarcastic remark or clever word on the edge of his grinning lips-

And then he got a fist in the face.

It wasn't the first time he'd been punched in his kitchen, and most definitely wasn't the last. But as he laid there on his kitchen floor, clutching his broken nose and trying not to show how much it _hurt_, he couldn't stop his blood from going cold for a second.

Steve, no, Cap -_golden boy-_ was standing there, fist still raised as if he was holding onto something and his eyes _so cold _stared down on him as if he was the worst piece of filth to crawl the Earth. In that second of cold blood and pain and _oh God, _a word came to his mind for Cap's expression: disappointment.

Now he and Steve weren't the greatest of friends. Heck, they could hardly be called friends. But they had a cease fire going on for the past few months and Tony thought it was going pretty good. He actually began to like the guy, and he thought Steve might even feel the same way (as strange as that sounds-he's into Pepper, not Captain whitie-tighties.) So a punch coming from a kind-of-friend oddly never hurt as much as it did now.

"What-"

"Shut up."

Alright then. Tony tried a mental recall of the last 24-hours. There was yesterday's mission that required the team in downtown Manhattan to subdue some rogue robots (which would would have been more concerning if they weren't obviously Hammer's), and then a debriefing in which he spent playing Candy Crush until Fury released him, or in his words, _"Since you obviously have something better to do, Stark, I suggest you do it elsewhere."_ Cue some leftover lasagna from the other night -the product of Cap's cooking hobby, who'd have thought?- and then the workshop and pop tarts and _what the heck?_

"Why?" His voice was cold, _cold as the ice he was trapped in _but it held something restrained. Cap was staring at him, fist now lowered but still clenched. His whole body was shaking, from anger or adrenaline Tony wasn't sure and didn't want to find out the painful way.

Now Tony was known for his snappy comebacks and equally sharp wit, but this wasn't exactly his best moment. Whose best moment would this even _begin_ to be, nose blood tricking down his arms, exhaustion from yesterday's mission with no sleep -which he was beginning to regret-along with absolutely _no idea what was happening_?

Yeah, he couldn't be blamed for his next words.

"Was it the lasagna?"

Now it was Cap's turn to look confused. His icy _disappointed _expression momentarily fell, only to be replaced by a cross between _What? _and _I'm going to kill you_.

That last one told Tony he said the wrong thing.

Suddenly the world shifted, and he realized with a sort of detached surprise that his feet weren't touching the ground. In fact, the only thing touching him were his own clothes and Cap's hand clenched in his shirt.

"_Is everything a joke to you?!_" If Cap was mad before, he was _furious_ now. The words reminded him of another time on the Helicarrier, one that seemed long ago but was at the most a couple months ago. The blood trickling from the hand clutching his nose began to drip to the floor and the stench of iron and salt filled the air.

Dimly, he recognized the _ca-chick_ of the Poptarts coming out of the toaster. He also realized that JARVIS hadn't spoken up once. The team was registered as non-threats, though if Tony was outright attacked by anyone-except Pepper, Pep's the exception to just about anything- he should have intervened. _So why wasn't he stepping in now?_

This didn't sit well. This actually was the proverbial last straw on the fat camel's back.

"What's going on?" There. He got in the first question of the day that actually made sense.

Something in his voice must have surprised Cap, because as abruptly as he was picked up, he was put back down. _Gently_.

Suspicious eyes met his but they weren't as angry and that's all Tony cared about. "You mean...?"

Now he looked away, blond eyes furrowing as if in deep thought. His stance was still stiff, back straight and feet apart at the shoulder, the soldier in him at the front. Finally he looked back, though he kept a careful guard in his eyes.

"Tony, there's...been an incident."

Huh. Well, it was the furthest he's gotten all morning, so he'd take it.

"And what type of incident would that be, Cap?" Now that he listened to himself his voice came out sniffle and clogged as if he had been crying _or had a broken nose. _The result wasn't as Stark-worthy as he'd liked, but it would have to do.

Now Steve, because his gaze had softened, wouldn't look him in the eye.

"There's been an explosion at Hammer tech."

The first thing that came to Tony's mind wasn't sympathy. It wasn't even pity, but rather a laugh and a smug note of _idiot got what he deserved. _But something in Steve's voice stopped Tony from voicing this. Only a moment later he was glad it did.

"They found bodies at the site...along with Starktech."

He said it before, and he'll say it again: he _really_ didn't see this coming.


End file.
